Max Landis wants to add a little Cthulhu to a Houdini biopic. True Blood has recast James. The movie based on Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life has a director. Learn how The Purge 2 will turn the first movie's premise on its head. Plus watch brand new trailers for The CW's The 100 and Star-Crossed, and Syfy's Dominion. Spoilers now!

Amazing Spider-Man

Sony wants to do a slew of movies in the same world as this film, in the vein of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — but who can carry a film besides Spider-Man himself? Given that Sony only has rights to Spidey, his supporting cast, and his villains, it seems likely that one of those villains could be promoted to protagonist.

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And indeed, Roberto Orci said that he thinks that they can do spinoffs focusing on "antiheroes":

There's been examples of that even on TV — Vic Mackey on The Shield, one of the greatest antiheroes of all time. There are ways to milk that story. Audiences have seen everything. They've seen all the good guys who never do anything wrong. Is there a story in seeing the other side? That's the challenge, and that's the fun. I'm not sure how we're going to do that yet.

He also commented that the central theme of this universe is going to be the good and bad of science, linked together by Oscorp:

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Because Peter becoming Spider-Man came out of [Oscorp], rather than saying, 'And then this alien came from space,' or whatever, they're doing human-hybrid, weird stuff at Oscorp. That's where Gwen Stacy works anyway as well. So the idea of it representing the good and the bad of science, that it can do great things, but it can also mess you up and do weird things and transform people — as all science can be used good or bad. So it's nice to have that organizing principal, but it wasn't like, 'We must keep it at Oscorp.' It flowed naturally from the story development.

Houdini

Max Landis has apparently jumped aboard Sony's stalled Houdini project, and he's bringing an H.P. Lovecraft sensibility to the proceedings. No, seriously, that's the rumor. Film School Rejects points out that this may mean that Landis is going to incorporate Lovecraft's "Under the Pyramids," which tackles Houdini's 1910 trip to Egypt and tells the story of Houdini's kidnap and attempted sacrifice to a typical Lovecraftian horror living there. [Film School Rejects]

The Purge 2

Actor Zach Gilford's given some details about the plot of the sequel:

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With the sequel, I thought they had a really great way to do a sequel because the first one took place in an upscale suburb with what happens to a family there when their security system doesn't work. With this one, there's none of the same characters, but it's the same day of the year and it takes place in the city where there are no security systems and it's just like a war zone where people are just trying to survive. So I thought it was pretty interesting to take that concept and to look at it from a different angle.

The Story of Your Life

The adaptation of the Nebula Award-winning short story by Ted Chiang has a director: Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners). The 1998 story follows a linguist recruited to communicate with aliens who are landing on Earth. As she does so, she experiences flashbacks that illuminate why the aliens have come. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Vice

The company behind Lone Survivor, Emmett/Furla, has picked the script Vice by Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore (the writing team behind the upcoming Bruce Willis film The Prince). Vice is described as having a "Westworld meets Grand Theft Auto vibe." The premise seems kind of Dollhouse-y, actually: a resort in the near future is staffed by synthetic beings that the visitors can act out any fantasy on. Each night, the staffers have their memories wiped — until a glitch causes one to remember everything that's been done ot her, and vow revenge. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Transformers 4: Age of Extinction

If you were worried that the Dinobots appearing in this film would not look like dinosaurs, an artist who has worked on toy box art claims to have seen concept art for the Dinobots and has good news. Artist Marcelo Matere said on Twitter:

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I saw concepts of all the Dinobots. People who like dinosaurs will go nuts with Transformers 4!

True Blood

Nathan Parsons will take over the role of James, previously played by Luke Grimes. Grimes reportedly asked to leave, because he disagreed with the direction the character was being taken in. [TV Line]

American Horror Story

Ryan Murphy said that we will be seeing Angela Bassett in the next episode, and that it would be focused on putting her back together:

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So Marie has been knocked unconscious. What can you say about what will happen to her?Basically what she was going to do to Kathy Bates, which she did — Marie cut Delphine into many, many parts and threatened to scatter her around the city — Kathy does that same thing to Marie. Marie is still alive, but her body parts are scattered all over the city, perhaps never to be united again. The question in the next episode: Who can put this very glamorous Humpty Dumpty back together again?

So will we see Angela Bassett as just a head?

No. You'll see Angela Bassett again in the next episode, but that's the question. It was always going to be Marie against Delphine. The next episode addresses what will become of this rivalry and who will win, ultimately. That's really what it's about.

He's also previewed that the next episode would look at Fiona and the Axeman's plan to kill everyone and run away together. Other things coming up include Zoe and Kyle's trip to Epcot and Cordelia realizing her mother's plan. More at the link. [Entertainment Weekly]

Here's a synopsis for the season finale, "The Seven Wonders":

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The time comes for the girls to face the test of the Seven Wonders. The night before, Myrtle serves them one last meal together as equals. It's time to find the new Supreme, a witch who Cordelia hopes "can lead the way out of an era of strife and chaos, towards repair and rejuvenation." With the Witch Hunters gone, perhaps they'll even be able to live in the open. As morning dawns, Madison is feeling vulnerable yet full of steely determination, Queenie struggles to believe she could be the one, Misty is terrified, and a sober Zoe puts on dark lipstick like it's war paint. The trials begin, and Madison aims snarky barbs at Zoe – followed by more violent intent as the trials go on – while Misty is surprised to find herself giddy at her own successes. But tragedy strikes as the trials go very wrong. Later, as the new Supreme finally rises, she finds herself having to begin her reign by performing a heartbreaking task. And finally, before the Coven can return to strength and prominence, there is one last piece of unfinished business for the new Supreme to attend to.

Tomorrow People

Executive producer Phil Klemmer says that the second half of the first season will explore Stephen's discovery of two different stories behind his father's exile:

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Stephen will basically learn about what forced his father into this limbo, this exile. He'll get two accounts of what went down. He'll get one from Jedekiah, and he'll get one from The Founder. We have these twin heads of Ultra – Jedekiah being human, and The Founder is obviously paranormal – they're both sort of vying for Stephen's loyalty, and they both realize that Stephen's instrumental for [their] secret agendas. The fun of the back half is you have these two terribly untrustworthy, duplicitous, manipulative, dangerous dudes just trying to win Stephen over to their side, and the truth is he can't really trust either of them. The stakes will become so much more than just bringing his father back. It's a case of history repeating itself where Stephen will find himself placed in the same dilemma that his father was facing and realizing that his father basically arranged to fake, or in a way to actually stage his own death, in order to avoid this terrible plot. That will give you some notion of the stakes Stephen finds himself at the center of by the end of the season.

According to Klemmer, the introduction of Peter will ultimately make it impossible for Stephen to keep his secret from his family. We can expect that to come to a had two episodes from now, in a family camping trip. As to the love triangle, Klemmer says that the real story coming up is actually friendship:

The new component that we explore in the back half of the season is John and Stephen becoming close as friends, and the idea that the fact that they're romantic rivals doesn't prohibit them from becoming really close to one another. I just think that's what makes the triangle really interesting is that it's very nebulous. There are no good guys and bad guys. It's true, love is blindness.

Revolution

Steven Culp, who plays Edward Truman, described the group his character leads, the Patriots:

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The Patriots, at least at first glance, appear to be the "good guys." They want to restore order, get the food and medical supply lines up and running again, protect towns from the various warlike clans that have sprung up in this dystopian society. And Truman takes pains to make sure that that is how they are perceived. But, as we've seen, that's far from the reality: I think it's safe to assume that they are intent on grabbing power and establishing a "New World Order" of their own, one in which they call the shots. "Restoring America to its former glory" seems to be an important concept for them. There's any number of parallels you can draw from history or current events. And that's all I'll say at this point.

Extant

A few more details from the Halle Berry/Steven Spielberg project: When Berry's Molly, an astronaut, returns from a year in space hiding a secret pregnancy. Molly's husband, a genius, has already built them an android son named Ethan. Somehow, Molly's new baby is somehow a threat to Ethan. The trailer shown to the press presented the questions the show hopes to explore: 1) Can you give a machine a soul? And 2) What does the baby mean for humanity? CBS also announced a premiere date and time: Wednesday, July 2 at 9 pm. [Buddy TV]

The 100

Executive producer Jason Rosenberg says that the CW's upcoming show about 100 juvenile convicts exiled to Earth is meant to be Lord of the Flies "writ large." In other words, Rosenberg's focus is on how the children will treat each other, not the effects of Earth itself. Rosenberg also said, although they reserve the right to make changes to the story told by the books, he believes fans of the book will like the show, saying:

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It (the book) only came out not that long ago. I hope they would love it. I know Kass is a fan of the show.

Star-Crossed

Executive producer Adele Lim said there's a story reason why the aliens in this show look mostly like good-looking humans:

[Their appearance] is not just about them being pretty and handsome… they should be relatable to us. . . . Small differences are enough to drive a a wedge between you and society at large.

At the same event, fellow executive producer Josh Appelbaum wanted to make sure that audiences won't just see this as a teen romance, but an allegory:

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[O]n the face of it it seems like one thing, but it's quickly obvious that the show is more than a teen romance. . . . [The show incorporates] sci-fi stuff in a big way. . . . [In 2014, racism] is in some ways worse than ever.

Labyrinth

The CW has ordered a miniseries based on the book Labyrinth, which follows the parallel searches for the Holy Grail of a woman in modern-day France and the another in medieval France. The searches are united by symbols the two women find that start their journey. Jessica Brown-Findlay will play Alais, the woman in 1209 France who is given a book by her father that he claims holds the secret to the Holy Grail. While Alais' book is filled with symbols, Alice (played by Vanessa Kirby) finds two bodies in a cave with symbols 80 years later. [TV Guide]

Agents of SHIELD

T.R.A.C.K.S.:" - Hot on the trail of the Clairvoyant, Coulson and his team board a mystery train that seems to be headed for certain death, on "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Tuesday, February 4 (8:00-9:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network

Caleb finally has to clue Hanna in to some of what has been happening in Ravenswood when she shows up demanding to speak to Miranda about "stealing" him away. Luke and Olivia finally learn what really happened to their father and who was responsible. With the walls closing in around him, Dillon makes a drastic move.

And when Remy goes missing, the rest of "The Five" are desperate to rescue her, leading to an intense showdown with everyone's lives in peril.